Los Angeles (AFP)

Milwaukee, worn by Giannis Antetokounmpo, beat Brooklyn (127-104), perfectly showing his NBA champion title at the start of the season on Tuesday, during an evening that saw Golden State shower the Lakers in Los Angeles ( 121-114).

Four months after the epic Eastern conference semi-final of the last play-offs (4-3), the remake has again confirmed the superiority of the Bucks over the private Nets of Kyrie Irving.

The latter is in fact removed from the team, because he refuses to be vaccinated against Covid-19, which prevents him, according to a decree from the city of New York, from playing home matches.

He could have started the championship in Wisconsin, but its leaders do not accept that it is only partially available.

With him, the Nets would not necessarily have won either, because the Bucks imposed themselves in an authoritarian way, just after receiving their champion ring, adorned with several hundred small diamonds and with "Fear the Deer" (fear the deer) inscribed on it.

It is especially Antetokounmpo that we had to fear in this case for Brooklyn, who could not do much to stop him, since he split 32 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks.

"It was hard to switch to the match after the ring ceremony, the lifting of the champion's banner from the ceiling ... We had to leave behind the emotion, the excitement. In the end, we did a very good match, we respected the battle plan, we played hard and together ", welcomed the double MVP in 2019 and 2020.

- Durant prolific -

Beyond the numbers, it was he who printed the rhythm of a match mastered by his team, because it was when he was on the floor that the gap in score widened or maintained, after s 'to be reduced while resting.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, of the Milwaukee Bucks, shoots against Blake Griffin, of the Brooklyn Nets, in the first game of the 2021-2022 NBA season, October 19, 2021 in Milwaukee Stacy Revere GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

Khris Middleton was an effective relay (20 pts, 9 rebounds), as were Pat Connaughton (20 pts) and Jordan Nwora (15 pts) off the bench.

The only downside is the contusion on the right heel received by Jrue Holiday (12 pts).

Opposite, Kevin Durant was prolific (32 pts, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks) but a little too alone, James Harden being clumsy although complete (20 pts to 6/16, 8 assists, 8 rebounds).

Returned to five points before the break, the Nets could not get closer in the second act, despite Patty Mills, author of a 7/7 behind the arc (21 pts), under the eyes of Tony Parker , of which he was for a long time the understudy in San Antonio and who was present at the Fiserv Forum, in the company of the F1 drivers, the French Pierre Gasly and the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, who will compete in the United States Grand Prix on Sunday in Austin.

- Promising Warriors -

The other poster of the evening saw the Lakers of LeBron James, yet up to it (34 pts, 11 rebounds, 5 assists), bow to Golden State.

This loss is the seventh in a row including six consecutive preseason friendlies.

LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2021-2022 NBA season opener against the Golden State Warriors in Los Angeles on October 19, 2021 Frederic J. BROWN AFP

The Warriors, led for three quarters, ended the meeting with a bang, inflicting a 38-29 in the last twelve minutes.

All without Stephen Curry exploding the counters.

Well muzzled (5/20 on shots), he was satisfied with 20 points, but also 10 rebounds and 10 assists, achieving the first triple-double of the season, his first since ... 2016.

Jordan Poole added 20 points and the bench 55, demonstrating that the collective set up by Steve Kerr (30 assists) was much more developed than that of the Lakers, in which only Anthony Davis (33 pts, 11 rebounds) has been in on with James. Under the eyes of Jack Nicholson who found his "courtside" chair at the Staples Center, after two years of inability to get there during the pandemic.

The armada of veterans built around the duo is still far from having found the right rhythm, like Russell Westbrook who has pretty much missed everything he has undertaken (8 pts, 4/13 on shots, 4 stray balls), and Carmelo Anthony (9 pts), unable to drop his ball on a free throw, rewarding the "Shaqtin 'a Fool", the blooper concocted each week by ex-star Shaquille O'Neal, d 'one of his first sequences for 2021-2022.

© 2021 AFP